I am a believer in smaller government, limited government, less

“I am a believer in smaller government, limited government, less regulation, less taxes, because I think to have more of those things, we suffocate the entrepreneurial spirit of this nation.” So spoke Matt Bevin, a son of the American spirit, who sought to remind his people of the sacred flame that once lit the dawn of their republic. His words rise not as mere politics, but as a call to remembrance — to the first breath of liberty that gave life to a nation born of independence, enterprise, and self-reliance. For Bevin’s creed is not new; it is ancient, echoing the same truth whispered by the Founders — that power, when gathered too tightly, chokes the very life it seeks to protect.

In the beginning, the land was vast and unshackled. Men and women carved their fortunes from wilderness, guided not by decree, but by courage and ingenuity. The early Americans knew little of comfort and much of struggle; yet, in their struggle, they found strength. It was not a great government that raised them from dust — it was the free soul, the entrepreneurial spirit, unbounded by excess law or burdening tax. Bevin’s words reach back to this primal truth: that too much control breeds weakness, while freedom breeds greatness. The hand of the state, if heavy and unrestrained, crushes the seed of innovation before it can bloom.

Think, then, upon the tale of Thomas Edison, born with no wealth, no powerful patron, and but three months of formal schooling. He rose not because a government lifted him, but because no law forbade his dreaming. Had he lived under the weight of endless regulation, his thousand failures might have been crimes, his experiments smothered by paper and permission. Yet because he was free — free to fail, free to risk, free to hope — he gave light to the world. So too have countless others: Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Madam C.J. Walker — each an heir to that same freedom to create, each a testament to what the human spirit can do when left unchained.

But Bevin warns us of a peril that grows with time — the creeping weight of regulation, the slow, invisible suffocation of liberty by good intentions. It begins with protection, but ends in paralysis. Every rule, every tax, every oversight, however noble its birth, can become a chain if multiplied beyond reason. A nation that trusts bureaucracy more than its own people forgets that government is but the servant, not the master. And when the servant grows too mighty, it devours the will of its own household. Thus, Bevin’s belief in limited government is not rebellion — it is remembrance. It is the preservation of the sacred balance between authority and freedom.

There is beauty in restraint, as there is danger in excess. A small government, like a well-forged sword, must be sharp, efficient, and guided by wisdom — not sprawling, dull, and cumbersome. To govern wisely is to govern lightly, giving space for the people to breathe, to labor, to invent. The entrepreneurial spirit thrives not in comfort but in challenge, not under guardianship but under freedom. It needs the open field, not the crowded stable. When the state grows too large, it does not nourish its citizens — it consumes them.

Let us then take the lesson to heart: that liberty is not sustained by laws alone, but by the courage to self-govern. Each citizen bears the duty to act justly without being commanded, to build without being directed, to give without being taxed into virtue. For a free people must not wait for the state to solve what they themselves can mend. True freedom demands responsibility — the labor of conscience, the discipline of self, the will to create and to share.

And so, my friends, remember this: the fire of America burns brightest when its hearth is tended, not smothered. Bevin’s words are not only about taxes and policies; they are about the soul of a people who believe in themselves. To the young, I say — do not wait for permission to dream. To the old, I say — protect that liberty which allows the young to rise. For when the government is small but just, and the people are free but good, then the spirit of enterprise shall once again lift the nation to the heights of greatness.

Therefore, live as free builders of your own destiny. Create, risk, and strive — for in the furnace of your effort, the nation renews itself. And may no government, however well-meaning, ever take from you the sacred right to fail, to rise, and to soar.